Social Justice and the "Green" City

Gilbert, Liette

doi:10.7213/urbe.06.002.SE01

Abstracts

A transition to a new, greener urbanism is increasingly imperative in the face of environmental crises. However, such a transition is not possible without considering social justice. This essay examines some tensions between social justice and urban sustainability and some of the reasons why a social justice approach to urban sustainability is often marginalized by a neoliberal sustainability ontology. This essay first engages with various normative concepts of social justice and its long existing but unfulfilled claim in the city. It then considers some gains toward greener urbanism but contends that urban sustainability responses have generally been more preoccupied with ecological modernization and the reproduction of best practices rather than with socio-spatial justice. In looking at some workings of green neoliberalism, the essay points to how the ecological is easily recuperated for neoliberal ends. The last section addresses some reasons why the social is de-privileged in the dominant sustainability discourses and practices, and how social justice serves, through citizenship practices, as a claim to urban change where participation is not a bureaucratized process but an everyday practice. Overall, the essay cautions against certain sustainability discourses and green neoliberalism without addressing its ingrained inequalities.

Social justice; Just city; Good city; Greening; Green neoliberalism

A transição em direção a um urbanismo "mais verde" se faz cada vez mais necessária devido a crise ambiental. Contudo, essa transição somente é possível se acompanhada de justiça social. Assim, tem-se por objetivo investigar algumas tensões entre a justiça social e a sustentabilidade urbana, bem como algumas das razões pelas quais uma abordagem de justiça social voltada à sustentabilidade urbana é frequentemente marginalizada por uma ontologia sustentável neoliberal. Este artigo se inicia com a apresentação de diversos conceitos normativos de justiça social e sua longa reivindicação (existente, mas não suprida) na cidade. Posteriormente são discutidos alguns benefícios decorrentes de um urbanismo "mais verde", alegando-se, contudo, que as ações de sustentabilidade urbana têm, de forma geral, concentrado-se mais em aspectos relacionados à modernização ecológica e reprodução de boas práticas do que em questões voltadas à justiça socioespacial. Ao se analisarem trabalhos sobre "neoliberalismo verde", o artigo evidencia como o tema da ecologia é restabelecido para objetivos neoliberais. A última seção debate o motivo pelo qual o aspecto social é relegado a segundo plano no discurso e práxis dominante de sustentabilidade e a forma pela qual a justiça social serve, por meio das práticas de cidadania, como reivindicação para transformações urbanas em locais onde a participação popular encontra-se arraigada na prática diária. Em linhas gerais, o artigo alerta contra determinados discursos de sustentabilidade e "neoliberalismo verde" sem abordar suas desigualdades arraigadas.

Justiça social; Cidade justa; Boa cidade; Greening; Neoliberalismo verde

AGYEMAN, J.; BULLARD, R. D.; EVANS, B. (Ed.). Just sustainabilities: development in an unequal world. London: Taylor & Francis, 2012.
AMIN, A. The good city. Urban Studies, v. 43, n. 5-6, p. 1009-1023, 2006. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00420980600676717
BEATLEY, T. Green urbanism: learning from european cities. Washington: Island Press, 1999.
BRAUN, B. Environmental issues: writing a more-than-human urban geography. Progress in Human Geography, v. 29, n. 5, p. 635-650, 2005. http://dx.doi.org/10.1191/0309132505ph574pr
BULKELEY, H. Urban sustainability: learning from best practice? Environment and Planning A, v. 38, n. 6, p. 1029-1044, 2006. http://dx.doi.org/10.1068/a37300
COLANTONIO, A.; DIXON, T. Urban regeneration and social sustainability: best practice from european cities. New York: Wiley, 2011.
DALE, A.; DUSHENKO, W.; ROBINSON, P. J. (Ed.). Urban sustainability: reconnecting space and place. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012. 296 p.
DAVIDSON, K. M. et al. Assessing urban sustainability from a social democratic perspective: a thematic approach. Local Environment, v. 17, n. 1, p. 57-73, 2012. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2011.631990
DAVIDSON, M. Social sustainability: a potential for politics? Local Environment, v. 14, n. 7, p. 607-619, 2009. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13549830903089291
DIKEÇ, M. Justice and the spatial imagination. Environment and Planning A, v. 33, n. 10, p. 1785-1805, 2001. http://dx.doi.org/10.1068/a3467
DOBSON, A. Social justice and environmental sustainability: ne'er the twain shall meet. In: AGYEMAN, J.; BULLARD, R. D.; EVANS, B. (Ed.). Just sustainabilities: development in an unequal world. London: Taylor & Francis, 2012.
FAINSTEIN, S. S. The just city Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2010. 224 p.
FAINSTEIN, S. S. Cities and diversity: should we want it? Should we plan for it? Urban Affairs Review, v. 41, n. 1, p. 3-19, 2005. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1078087405278968
FOLADORI, G. Sustentabilidad ambiental y contradicciones sociales. Ambiente & Sociedade, v. 5, n. 2, p. 19-34, 1999.
FRASER, N. Reframing global justice. New Left Review, v. 36, p. 69-88, 2005.
FRIEDMANN, J. The prospect of cities Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2002.
FRIEDMANN, J. The good city: in defense of utopian thinking. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, v. 24, n. 2, p. 460-472, 2000. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1468-2427.00258
FRIEDMANN, J. Planning in the public domain: from knowledge to action. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987. 229 p.
GANDY, M. Concrete and clay: reworking nature in New York city. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2002.
GLOBE AWARD. Sustainable city award Stockholm, 2014. Available at: <http://globeaward.org>. Accessed in: 28 Feb. 2014.
KEIL, R. Progress report: urban political ecology. Urban Geography, v. 24, n. 8, p. 723-738, 2003. http://dx.doi.org/10.2747/0272-3638.24.8.723
KHOSLA, P. Privatization, segregation and dispossession in western urban space: an antiracist, marxist-feminist reading of David Harvey. Toronto: York University, 2005. Available at: <http://fes.yorku.ca/files/outstanding_papers/punam-khosla.pdf>. Accessed in: 25 Nov. 2013.
HALL, P. Good cities, better lives: how Europe discovered the lost art of urbanism. New York: Routlege, 2013.
HARVEY, D. Social justice and the city Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1973.
HARVEY, D. The right to the city. New Left Review, v. 53, p. 23-40, 2008.
HARVEY, D. The right to the city. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, v. 27, n. 4, p. 939-941, 2003. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.0309-1317.2003.00492.x
HARVEY, D. Justice, nature, and the geography of difference Cambridge: Blackwell, 1996.
HOUGH, M. Cities and natural process New York: Routledge, 1995.
INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL FOR LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL INITIATIVES - ICLEI. Local Governments for Sustainability. Green urban economy Germany, 2013. Available at: <http://www.iclei.org/our-activities/our-agendas/green-urban-economy.html>. Accessed in: 25 Nov. 2013.
LEFEBVRE, H. Le droit à la ville Paris: Anthropos, 1968. 160 p.
LIPSITZ, G. The possessive investment of whiteness: how white people profit from identity politics. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1998. 320 p.
LUKE, T. W. Corporate social responsibility: an uneasy merger of sustainability and development. Sustainable Development, v. 21, n. 2, p. 83-91, 2013. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/sd.1558
MARCUSE, P. Sustainability is not enough. Environment and urbanization, v. 10, n. 2, p. 103-111, 1998. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/095624789801000201
ORGANIC GARDENING. Green cities Emmaus, 2014. Available at: <http://www.organicgardening.com/living//green-cities>. Accessed in: 28 Feb. 2014.
POLÈSE, M.; STREN, R. The social sustainability of cities: diversity and the management of change. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2000. 384 p.
REUTERS ENVIRONMENTAL FORUM. Top 5 greenest cities in the world New York, 2010. Available at: <http://blogs.reuters.com/environment/2010/03/01/top-5-greenest-cities-in-the-world/>. Accessed in: 28 Feb. 2014.
ROGERS, H. The greening of capitalism? International Socialist Review, n. 70, 2009. Available at: <http://isreview.org/issue/70/greening-capitalism>. Accessed in: 25 Nov. 2013.
SIEMENS. The green city index Munich, 2012. Available at: <http://www.siemens.com/greencityindex>. Accessed in: 28 Feb. 2014.
SOJA, E. Postmodern geographies: the reassertion of space in critical social theory. New York: Verso, 1989. 228 p.
VAN DER RYN, S.; COWAN, S. Ecological design Washington: Island Press, 1996.
WORLD COMMISSION ON ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT. Our common future Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987. 383 p.
ZETTER, R.; WATSON, G. B. Designing sustainable cities in the developing world Burlington: Ashgate, 2006. 210 p.
ŽIŽEK, S. Slavoj Žižek on Starbucks and the delusion of green capitalism Aol On, 2011. Available at: <http://on.aol.com/video/slavoj-zizek-on-starbucks-and-the-delusion-of-green-capitalism-517371473>. Accessed in: 25 Nov. 2013.

Publication Dates

Publication in this collection
04 June 2014
Date of issue
Aug 2014

History

Accepted
10 Mar 2014
Received
25 Dec 2013

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

[1] AGYEMAN, J.; BULLARD, R. D.; EVANS, B. (Ed.). Just sustainabilities: development in an unequal world. London: Taylor & Francis, 2012.

[2] AMIN, A. The good city. Urban Studies, v. 43, n. 5-6, p. 1009-1023, 2006. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00420980600676717

[3] BEATLEY, T. Green urbanism: learning from european cities. Washington: Island Press, 1999.

[4] BRAUN, B. Environmental issues: writing a more-than-human urban geography. Progress in Human Geography, v. 29, n. 5, p. 635-650, 2005. http://dx.doi.org/10.1191/0309132505ph574pr

[5] BULKELEY, H. Urban sustainability: learning from best practice? Environment and Planning A, v. 38, n. 6, p. 1029-1044, 2006. http://dx.doi.org/10.1068/a37300

[6] COLANTONIO, A.; DIXON, T. Urban regeneration and social sustainability: best practice from european cities. New York: Wiley, 2011.

[7] DALE, A.; DUSHENKO, W.; ROBINSON, P. J. (Ed.). Urban sustainability: reconnecting space and place. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012. 296 p.

[8] DAVIDSON, K. M. et al. Assessing urban sustainability from a social democratic perspective: a thematic approach. Local Environment, v. 17, n. 1, p. 57-73, 2012. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2011.631990

[9] DAVIDSON, M. Social sustainability: a potential for politics? Local Environment, v. 14, n. 7, p. 607-619, 2009. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13549830903089291

[10] DIKEÇ, M. Justice and the spatial imagination. Environment and Planning A, v. 33, n. 10, p. 1785-1805, 2001. http://dx.doi.org/10.1068/a3467

[11] DOBSON, A. Social justice and environmental sustainability: ne'er the twain shall meet. In: AGYEMAN, J.; BULLARD, R. D.; EVANS, B. (Ed.). Just sustainabilities: development in an unequal world. London: Taylor & Francis, 2012.

[12] FAINSTEIN, S. S. The just city Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2010. 224 p.

[13] FAINSTEIN, S. S. Cities and diversity: should we want it? Should we plan for it? Urban Affairs Review, v. 41, n. 1, p. 3-19, 2005. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1078087405278968

[14] FOLADORI, G. Sustentabilidad ambiental y contradicciones sociales. Ambiente & Sociedade, v. 5, n. 2, p. 19-34, 1999.

[15] FRASER, N. Reframing global justice. New Left Review, v. 36, p. 69-88, 2005.

[16] FRIEDMANN, J. The prospect of cities Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2002.

[17] FRIEDMANN, J. The good city: in defense of utopian thinking. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, v. 24, n. 2, p. 460-472, 2000. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1468-2427.00258

[18] FRIEDMANN, J. Planning in the public domain: from knowledge to action. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987. 229 p.

[19] GANDY, M. Concrete and clay: reworking nature in New York city. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2002.

[20] GLOBE AWARD. Sustainable city award Stockholm, 2014. Available at: <http://globeaward.org>. Accessed in: 28 Feb. 2014.

[21] KEIL, R. Progress report: urban political ecology. Urban Geography, v. 24, n. 8, p. 723-738, 2003. http://dx.doi.org/10.2747/0272-3638.24.8.723

[22] KHOSLA, P. Privatization, segregation and dispossession in western urban space: an antiracist, marxist-feminist reading of David Harvey. Toronto: York University, 2005. Available at: <http://fes.yorku.ca/files/outstanding_papers/punam-khosla.pdf>. Accessed in: 25 Nov. 2013.

[23] HALL, P. Good cities, better lives: how Europe discovered the lost art of urbanism. New York: Routlege, 2013.

[24] HARVEY, D. Social justice and the city Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1973.

[25] HARVEY, D. The right to the city. New Left Review, v. 53, p. 23-40, 2008.

[26] HARVEY, D. The right to the city. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, v. 27, n. 4, p. 939-941, 2003. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.0309-1317.2003.00492.x

[27] HARVEY, D. Justice, nature, and the geography of difference Cambridge: Blackwell, 1996.

[28] HOUGH, M. Cities and natural process New York: Routledge, 1995.

[29] INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL FOR LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL INITIATIVES - ICLEI. Local Governments for Sustainability. Green urban economy Germany, 2013. Available at: <http://www.iclei.org/our-activities/our-agendas/green-urban-economy.html>. Accessed in: 25 Nov. 2013.

[30] LEFEBVRE, H. Le droit à la ville Paris: Anthropos, 1968. 160 p.

[31] LIPSITZ, G. The possessive investment of whiteness: how white people profit from identity politics. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1998. 320 p.

[32] LUKE, T. W. Corporate social responsibility: an uneasy merger of sustainability and development. Sustainable Development, v. 21, n. 2, p. 83-91, 2013. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/sd.1558

[33] MARCUSE, P. Sustainability is not enough. Environment and urbanization, v. 10, n. 2, p. 103-111, 1998. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/095624789801000201

[34] ORGANIC GARDENING. Green cities Emmaus, 2014. Available at: <http://www.organicgardening.com/living//green-cities>. Accessed in: 28 Feb. 2014.

[35] POLÈSE, M.; STREN, R. The social sustainability of cities: diversity and the management of change. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2000. 384 p.

[36] REUTERS ENVIRONMENTAL FORUM. Top 5 greenest cities in the world New York, 2010. Available at: <http://blogs.reuters.com/environment/2010/03/01/top-5-greenest-cities-in-the-world/>. Accessed in: 28 Feb. 2014.

[37] ROGERS, H. The greening of capitalism? International Socialist Review, n. 70, 2009. Available at: <http://isreview.org/issue/70/greening-capitalism>. Accessed in: 25 Nov. 2013.

[38] SIEMENS. The green city index Munich, 2012. Available at: <http://www.siemens.com/greencityindex>. Accessed in: 28 Feb. 2014.

[39] SOJA, E. Postmodern geographies: the reassertion of space in critical social theory. New York: Verso, 1989. 228 p.

[40] VAN DER RYN, S.; COWAN, S. Ecological design Washington: Island Press, 1996.

[41] WORLD COMMISSION ON ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT. Our common future Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987. 383 p.

[42] ZETTER, R.; WATSON, G. B. Designing sustainable cities in the developing world Burlington: Ashgate, 2006. 210 p.

[43] ŽIŽEK, S. Slavoj Žižek on Starbucks and the delusion of green capitalism Aol On, 2011. Available at: <http://on.aol.com/video/slavoj-zizek-on-starbucks-and-the-delusion-of-green-capitalism-517371473>. Accessed in: 25 Nov. 2013.

Brasil

Brasil

Social Justice and the "Green" City

Justiça social e a cidade "verde"

Abstracts

Publication Dates

History